Your employee will be entitled to paid maternity leave for at least 16 weeks. They must take 4 to 6 weeks of this leave in one go right before their due date. If they are expecting more than 1 child, this leave will be increased to 20 weeks and they will have to take 8 to 10 weeks’ leave before their due date.
Once your employee has given birth, they will be entitled to a minimum of 10 weeks’ leave. They must take 6 of these weeks immediately after the birth. The remaining leave can be spread out over a period of up to 30 weeks, provided you agree. If your employee wants to make such a request, they must do so within 3 weeks of giving birth. You will have 2 weeks to respond and can only refuse if you have serious business reasons for doing so.
If the baby comes early or late or has to be hospitalised
If the baby arrives early, your employee will be able to add any unused maternity leave from before the birth to their leave after the birth. In cases where the baby comes late, your employee will continue to be entitled to a minimum of 10 weeks’ leave after giving birth.
If the baby has to be hospitalised for more than 7 days post-birth, your employee will qualify for extended maternity leave. You will have to apply for extended maternity leave on your employee’s behalf.
In the event of a premature birth or stillbirth
Should your employee give birth prematurely or experience a stillbirth after the 24th week of pregnancy but before their maternity leave starts, they will be entitled to paid maternity leave for 16 weeks.
If your employee experiences a stillbirth but is still pregnant because they are having a multiple pregnancy, they will continue to be entitled to paid maternity leave for 8 to 10 weeks before their due date.
Your employee’s maternity pay will equal 100% of their full average daily income.
Please note: Your employee’s maternity pay will not be more than the highest average daily income (‘maximumdagloon’). However, you may supplement this if you wish.
In most cases, the maternity pay will be transferred directly to you. We will do this every 4 weeks. You will then continue paying your employee’s salary in the same way you always have. If you and your employee would prefer to have the maternity pay transferred to your employee, let us know in your application.
If your employee becomes ill during pregnancy or childbirth, they will either fall under your sick leave policy or receive a sickness benefit or maternity pay. The cause of their illness and when it occurred will determine what they will be entitled to.
Illness related to pregnancy or childbirth
If your employee falls ill because of pregnancy or childbirth, but this occurs outside of their maternity leave, they will be entitled to a sickness benefit.
Keep the following in mind:
- Illnesses that occur before the maternity leave starts must be reported within 6 weeks of the illness starting.
- Illnesses that occur after the maternity leave has ended must be reported by the fourth day.
Please note: You must inform us of your employee’s recovery. You will not need to do this if your employee goes on maternity leave before they have recovered from their illness.
Illness not related to pregnancy or childbirth
If your employee’s illness was not caused by pregnancy or childbirth, and it occurs outside of their maternity leave, your general sick leave policy will apply.
Illness in the period that mark the start of the maternity leave
If your employee’s illness occurs in the 2-week period that marks the start of their maternity leave (‘flexibiliseringsperiode’), they will receive a sickness benefit for the days they are ill before their maternity leave actually begins. Your employee will receive this benefit regardless of the reason for their illness.
Keep the following in mind:
- You must report your employee’s illness by the fourth day.
- Your employee’s absence from work on these specific days will be subtracted from their maternity leave after giving birth.
Illness during the maternity leave period
If your employee becomes ill while on maternity leave, their maternity pay will continue as usual regardless of the reason for their illness.
- a change in your or your employee’s circumstances while your employee is on leave. Report this to us by using the Change of circumstances form if your employee is receiving a sickness benefit or maternity pay (‘Doorgeven wijzigingen werknemers met Ziektewet- of WAZO-uitkering’).
- the date on which your employee gave birth. You will only need to report this to us if your employee gives birth before their maternity leave starts or if they are living abroad.
All communication about maternity pay will be sent to your employee. If this information should be sent to you instead, your employee will have to authorise you as the official contact person.
Once you have been authorised, download the paper form (Aanvragen WAZO-uitkering) when applying for maternity pay. This is important because the authorisation needs to be included with the application and this cannot be done online.